Bbenzon
Description
Humankind got its start on the African savannas some hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years ago. At various times in our cultural history we’ve moved to distinctly new cultural ground, as it were. And so we are moving now, and have been for the past half century. This blog is how I see that move. Intellectually, I'm broadly interested in culture and the brain. Within that compass, anything could show up here. Literature and films (including animation), certainly, music as well, and graffiti. But, other things may show up as well. It's a blog, don't you know, it moves.
MY BLOGS
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New Savanna
http://new-savanna.blogspot.com/
Humankind got its start on the African savannas some hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years ago. At various times in our cultural history we’ve moved to distinctly new cultural ground, as it were. And so we are moving now, and have been for the past half century. This blog is how I see that move. I'm broadly interested in culture and the brain. Within that compass, anything could show up here. Literature and films (including animation), certainly, music as well, and graffiti. But, other things may show up as well. It's a blog, don't you know, it moves.
LATEST ARTICLES ( 7356 )
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My Current Thoughts About “New York 2140” Concerning Character and the Problem o...
First, character. I know that the book has been criticized for having thin characters. The issue has been raised in the current group reading being conducted... Read more
Posted on 06 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
On the Conversational Construction of Cultural Reality: Comments on Joe Rogan an...
In my previous post in this Joe Rogan series I’d transcribed a conversation Rogan had with Joey Diaz about the final fight scene between Bruce Lee and Chuck... Read more
Posted on 06 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Tyler Cowen Has Some Suggestions as to Why the Tech World Has So Many Political...
Here's his top five, out of 17: Most tech leaders aren’t especially personable. Instead, they’re quirky introverts. Or worse. Most tech leaders don’t care much... Read more
Posted on 06 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Seven Views of the Met Life Tower (New York 2140)
I've lived in Jersey City or Hoboken since the beginning of the millennium; they are contiguous cities across the Hudson River from Lower Manhattan. The... Read more
Posted on 05 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Old School: Torpor and Stupor at Johns Hopkins
Also known as Tottle and Stutter. But the real name was Tudor and Stuart: The Tudor and Stuart Club. The Tudor and Stuart Club was a literary society at The... Read more
Posted on 04 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Between Now and 2140
By 2140, of course, I mean to indicate Kim Stanley Robinson's wonderful book, New York 2140. What happens between now at then? Read more
Posted on 04 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Fioday Fotos: Manhattan View
Posted on 03 August 2018
CULTURE,
PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIETY
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Tyler Cowen Interviews Charles C. Mann on Shaping Tomorrow’s World and the Limit...
I think it’s impossible to overrate him. Jackie Chan’s amazing. From Conversations with Tyler, HERE. Air pollution: COWEN: And in your book [The Wizard and the... Read more
Posted on 03 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Bird in Full Flight
A new transcription of Charlie Parker's 1942 solo on "Cherokee" -- a breakthrough moment in his development and one of the earliest examples of the emerging... Read more
Posted on 03 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Woodland Scene Painted by Peder Mørk Mønsted
#TheNewPaintingPeder Mørk Mønsted (10 December 1859 – 20 June 1941) was a Danish realist painter. He is best known for his landscape paintings. Read more
Posted on 03 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Unthinking (the Economist Has Gone Zen)
Ian Leslie, Non Cogito, Ergo Sum, The Economist, May/June 2012: Unthinking is the ability to apply years of learning at the crucial moment by removing your... Read more
Posted on 03 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Seder-Masochism: Nina Paley Began at the End and Ended at the Beginning
Nina Paley has now finished her second feature film, Seder-Masochism–her first, of course, is the marvelous Sita Sings the Blues. Read more
Posted on 02 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
New York 2140: Will the Future Ever Be the Same?
I’ve been participating in Bryan Alexander’s discussion of Kim Stanley Robinson’s New York 2140. One participant, Tom Haymes, brings up one of those “old time... Read more
Posted on 02 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Mind on the Optical Bench ("enlightenment"?)
Pretty mind-blowing paper, 3D-printed representations of neural networks you can run inference on by shining light through... literal *light speed* inference... Read more
Posted on 02 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Measurement of Cultural Evolution in the Non-Literate World
At the time he died in 1995 my teacher, David G. Hays, The Measurement of Cultural Evolution in the Non-Literate World, had just completed a review and synthesi... Read more
Posted on 01 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Gavin 2: The Meanings of Words Are Intimately Interlinked [#DH]
This post is part of an ongoing series I am doing about Michael Gavin’s recent article on Empson, statistical semantics, and Milton [1], but it can also be... Read more
Posted on 01 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Our Consumption Has Now Overshot the Earth's Capacity for Regeneration in 2018
Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year.... Read more
Posted on 01 August 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Sabine Hossenfelder Clarifies Entropy
At Backreaction: 1. Entropy doesn’t measure disorder, it measures likelihood. Really the idea that entropy measures disorder is totally not helpful. Suppose I... Read more
Posted on 31 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Subjective Nature of Meaning
Note: You may consider this to be deep background for my ongoing examination of Michael Gavin’s recent article on Empson, vector semantics, and Milton [1]. Read more
Posted on 31 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Gavin 1.2: From Warren Weaver 1949 to Computational Semantics [#DH]
In the first post in this series (Gavin 1.1: Warren Weaver (1949) and statistical semantics) I suggested that what Gavin [1] calls “computational semantics”... Read more
Posted on 30 July 2018 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
